Alpha
by ThatRollingStone
Summary: "Time is... a fickle thing. Some people live when they shouldn't have. People who were once good are changed into heartless monsters. Worlds can be destroyed by someone who had the ability to manipulate it. And there has to be someone to fix it on the off-chance that it does change. And that person, my dear Rose, is me."


"Why are we out here again?" The entire team looked at Yang with jaded eyes, they all sweated like pigs on a hot summer day, but Yang whinged the most out of all of them. It was nearly one-hundred degrees outside, so they all felt how hot it was. This is how it was every day in Vacuo, luckily for the hot-headed girl and the rest of her team, it was only for one assignment.

Blake sighed at her partner. "We're out here so we can find the Grimm that has been destroying all the villages."

"No, when I said that I meant: why are we in the middle of a desert?!" She raised her voice at that last part, prompting the others to groan.

"The Grimm is sand based. It only hides in the sand we can't find it anywhere else other than here." Weiss replied, fatigued. She had her jacket folded around her legs to maybe cool off a bit, how wrong she was... only feeling more of the radiant sun's fever and beads of sweat across her pale skin.

"Will you guys relax? We're going to find it sooner or later so just hang on." Ruby reassured. "Hang on, I think I see something."

In the distance, a jet-black Worm-like creature burst out of the sand forming an arc and heading right for them, the Grimm creature knocked up dust and dirt as it traveled under the sand. Ruby looked at her team as the worm drew near. "Run!" She shouted, using her semblance to burst ahead with a head start.

Yang used her shotgun shells to advance forward as well. "Easy for you to say!"

"You dolts, can't you see that we're under attack?!" Weiss replied using her glyphs to catch up.

Blake ran as fast as she could. "They forgot me already. Great." Blake muttered to herself.

"So, Ruby, what's the game plan?"

"Uh..." She thought for a second, but then saw barren temples covered up by the sand. "Get to the ruins!" She shouted as they ran to the ruins as fast as possible.

"Checkmate!" Ruby ordered as she landed on what used to be the roof of a temple. She grabbed Crescent Rose and aimed for the sandworm's eye as Blake and Weiss distracted it, but the titanic grimm wouldn't stay still. "Come on..."

Blake jumped toward the sandworm with her ribbon dragging behind her as she jumped. A glyph formed under her feet as she nearly made contact with the Sandworm, launching her behind it, where another glyph was waiting to launch her on the other side of the beast. Blake landed on the ground and pulled the ribbon to bring the sandworm down, but the ribbon snapped and Blake fell to the ground.

"Alright, Freezerburn!" She shouted.

Yang, who was barely behind the worm, blasted Ember Celica's shotgun upwards to the worm's head, but immediately the sandworm ducked down into the sand leaving Yang in free fall. Ruby jumped using her speed and caught her sister before she hit the ground. She stood and looked at her two teammates.

"Weiss-" The Sandworm rose just under Weiss and Blake devouring them up in one whole bite. "WEISS! BLAKE!" The sandworm formed an arc and aimed to eat Yang and Ruby up in one more fell swoop. Ruby reflexively used her speed to quickly move out of the way but realized she had left Yang behind, who had just been gobbled up by the sandworm. "Yang! Weiss! Blake!" She closed her eyes as the sandworm formed another arc steering toward Ruby. She felt her body seize up in shock. All she could do was close her eyes as the beast opened it's mouth to consume her.

* * *

 **"That won't do now, will it?"**

* * *

Ruby slowly opened her eyes and saw her teammates standing beside her. Facing the sandworm, or what used to be the sandworm, it was presently a rotting corpse. "What the...-"

"...Ruby. You saved all of our asses." Yang said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"You killed the sandworm, that's what I mean! Great job, sis."

"B-but I..." Suddenly, she starting searching her pockets. "Um, who stole my dust cartridges?"

"Um, what? You used all of them on the sandworm."

She reached into her pocket,. A small card with an ace emblem. And under it read, Elias Blackstone.

"Elias Blackstone?" She said looking at the card.


End file.
